The best bars around Alamitos Bay aren’t really about the drinks. They are about the people behind them. Spend enough evenings here and you start to see the web: two former gondoliers who bought a dive bar and a sports bar, a restaurant family whose story runs from a breakfast patio on the marina to a new pizza place on Second Street, the man behind the Duffy rentals who opened an open-air restaurant next door, and a Croatian dog lover who opened a bar on the sand. Add a few true staples that locals have loved for decades, and you have a small town of entrepreneurs and neighbors. These are the spots we love, with a little of the story behind each one.
Not every bar here sits on the water, so we have marked each one. The first group is right on the marina, the bay or the beach. After that come the neighborhood bars on Naples Island and in Belmont Shore, a few blocks from the water, where you go for the people and not the view.
Ballast Point Brewing
Where: On the water. Alamitos Bay Landing, 110 N. Marina Dr.
The big two-story brewpub at the tip of the landing sits in a building with plenty of past lives. It was the Windrose from 1973, where more than one local got engaged, and later Khoury’s, remembered for its Saturday lobster buffet (Press-Telegram). The San Diego brewery opened here in June 2016, and the very first beer poured was Watermelon Dorado, which still has a cult following at this location (Long Beach Post). We are a little biased: the dock out front is home to Long Beach Waterbikes, so grab a seat on one of their two huge outdoor patios and you may see us heading out.
Boathouse on the Bay
Where: On the water. Alamitos Bay Landing, 190 N. Marina Dr.
Of course the Boathouse. It opened in January 2014 in the space that had been McKenna’s on the Bay, a project of longtime local restaurant man John Morris with partners including Eric Johnson and David Copley, the same crew behind Crow’s and Legends. “It’s a new era, baby. It’s gonna be great,” Morris said before opening day (Press-Telegram). Morris is also the man behind Big Bang on the Bay, the July 3rd fireworks show over Alamitos Bay. The windows face due west over the marina, so the sunset is the main event.
Marina Wine
Where: At Alamitos Bay Landing, steps from the water. 194 N. Marina Dr.
Right next door, Marina Wine and Craft Beer Bar is the cozy one. It took over the old Five O’Clock Wine Bar space in 2019, and it’s a true local spot, with musicians playing every night it’s open and plenty of neighbors from Seal Beach who walk over for a glass on the patio. Long Beach voted it Best Wine Bar in the 2025 People’s Choice Awards (Marina Wine).
On the water: Marina Drive
Marina Drive is where the boats are, and our waterfront favorites on this side of the bay sit within a short stroll of each other.
Schooner or Later
Where: On the water. On the Alamitos Bay marina, 241 N. Marina Dr.
Denny Lund and his sister Denise opened Schooner or Later on Marina Drive in 1985, in the spot that had been the Little Ships Galley, and for years Denny also ran Tantalum over at Marina Pacifica (Long Beach Post; Long Beach Business Journal). Denny passed away in 2024, and he is still something of a local legend. Today Denise owns Schooner or Later, and her son Curtis Fullerton, who grew up at Schooner or Later, is one of the owners of Anna’s Pizza Joint in Belmont Shore. Schooner or Later is a breakfast and lunch place and a local favorite for weekend breakfast, where The Mess is a must try. The waterfront patio pours mimosas, Bloody Marys and local beer until mid-afternoon, and true to the name, you can order your beer by the schooner.
The Crab Pot
Where: On the water. On the Alamitos Bay marina, just outside the Alamitos Bay Landing parking lot. 215 N. Marina Dr.
The Crab Pot started on the Seattle waterfront, and its Long Beach sibling brought the same famous Seafeast to the marina: crab, clams, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes steamed together and dumped right onto your paper covered table (The Crab Pot). There’s an indoor bar, a huge outdoor bar and patio with a fire pit, and an amazing happy hour. Bring an appetite, and don’t wear your nicest shirt.
On the water: Marina Pacifica
Tantalum
Where: On the water. Marina Pacifica, 6272 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
Denny Lund’s other place, tucked into Marina Pacifica, serves what it calls New California cuisine with an Asian soul. The name is element 73 on the periodic table, “a non-corrosive metal found by the sea” (Tantalum). The reason to come is the 75-foot mahogany bar: the view wraps nearly 180 degrees around the bay, and it is our favorite seat in town for watching the sun go down.
Nigel’s
Where: On the water. Marina Pacifica, 6276 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
Next door to Tantalum, the pink one is Nigel’s at Anchors Away, an open-air restaurant on the water at Marina Pacifica, open since August 2025. Nigel Ohrberg bought a single electric Duffy to enjoy the bay, friends kept asking to come along, and it grew into a fleet of pink Duffies, which he still rents out. “People got off the Duffies and didn’t want to leave the water here, so we wanted to create a fun space for them,” he told the Long Beach Post. It took three years to build, and two of the spritzes are named for his wife and daughter (Long Beach Post). Look for Nigel himself, often in a pink suit.
On the water: the beach
Belmont Brewing Company
Where: On the water (the ocean, not the bay). On the beach at the Belmont Pier, 25 39th Place, Belmont Shore.
A true staple. At the foot of the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, partners David Lott and David Hansen started brewing in the summer of 1990, back when nobody knew if craft beer would last. Lott calls it the oldest brewery in Long Beach and the oldest brewpub in LA County (Long Beach Business Journal). The best seller is the Strawberry Blonde, a good pick if you don’t love hoppy beer. Take it out to the patio, which looks out over the sand, the pier and the ocean.
Monty’s Dog Beach & Bar
Where: On the water (the ocean, not the bay). On the sand at Granada Beach, next to the Granada launch ramp. 5000 E. Ocean Blvd.
Bring the dog. Monty’s opened in October 2024 on the sand at Granada Beach, about 150 feet from Rosie’s Dog Beach, the only off-leash dog beach in LA County (Monty’s). Owner Igor Montanari-Knez, who runs it with his wife Ruby, started with a dog hotel in Crikvenica, Croatia, and Long Beach is Monty’s first location outside Europe. “Let’s bring beach life back to Long Beach,” he told the Long Beach Post (Long Beach Post). People get spritzes, beer and wine, and the dogs get their own menu, down to a “Dogtini.”
On Naples Island: the Second Street strip
These three are on the island itself, along the short stretch of Second Street between the bridges. None of them looks out on the water, but the water is never more than a short walk away.
Crow’s Cocktails
Where: On Naples Island, not on the water. 5728 E. 2nd St.
If any bar here has earned the word “institution,” it is Crow’s. The bar proudly says “Est. 1942” (Crow’s), and it is one of the three oldest bars in Long Beach, behind only Joe Jost’s and The Annex (Longbeachize). The name arrived in 1989, when Bob Crow Jr. bought the old Chart Room; his father was the Long Beach vice mayor who helped the city buy the Queen Mary (Press-Telegram). Most regulars remember the brothers Dickie and Bobby “Bullets” Babian, who ran it from the 1990s. Dickie, famous for his Grey Goose with a splash of water and his hundred dollar tips, passed away in 2025 at 90 (Longbeachize).
At the end of 2023, three locals, David Copley, Eric Johnson and Matt Peterson, took over. Copley and Johnson started out as gondoliers on the Naples canals, and between them these guys now own a handful of places around town, including Legends in Belmont Shore and the Boathouse on the Bay down on the marina. At Crow’s, they threw out the couches in their first half hour and put the carpet, old beer signs and black and white photos of Naples back where they belong.
K.C. Branaghan’s
Where: On Naples Island, not on the water. 5734 E. 2nd St.
Next door, K.C. Branaghan’s has been Naples Island’s Irish pub since 2007. Ryan and Summer Hoover took it over in 2019; they have lived on Naples Island for 20 years and come from a family that has called Long Beach home for four generations (K.C. Branaghan’s). It feels like the neighborhood’s living room. Order a properly poured Guinness and the fish and chips, and go on a Friday night for the free live music.
Naples Rib Company
Where: On Naples Island, not on the water. 5800 E. 2nd St.
A few doors east is a family staple. Fran Ursini founded Newport Rib Company in 1984, and in 1992 he and his son Dave bought the old Naples Rib Joint and relaunched it as Naples Rib Company (The562). Fran, who also worked as a high school football official for more than 50 years, passed away in March 2025 at 86, and Dave still runs the place. “One of us would close up every night and turn the light off,” Dave told The562. Come for the baby back ribs or the tri-tip at the bar.
In Belmont Shore: Second Street
Cross the bridge west of Naples and Second Street turns into Belmont Shore, the busy shopping and dining strip. These two are neighborhood spots, a few blocks from the beach and not on the water.
Anna’s Pizza Joint
Where: In Belmont Shore, not on the water. 5351 E. 2nd St.
Remember Curtis Fullerton from Schooner or Later? He had dreamed of opening a pizza place for about 20 years, and in March 2026 he made it happen, teaming up with Elliot Lewis of Anna’s Joint downtown, which Lewis named for his wife, Anna (Long Beach Post). The kitchen tested about 35 doughs to get it just right, so come hungry for New York slices and Detroit style squares.
Legends
Where: In Belmont Shore, not on the water. 5236 E. 2nd St.
Another staple, and part of the same local web. Legends opened in the spring of 1979, started by Los Angeles Rams lineman Dennis Harrah and John Morris, the same John Morris behind the Boathouse. The idea came while they watched a bartender fiddle with a TV’s rabbit ears, so they put 12-foot satellite dishes on the roof and pulled in live games, which is why Legends calls itself the first modern sports bar in America (Longbeachize; Legends). A fire in 2005 closed it for nearly two years, and it came back bigger. Today it’s co-owned by David Copley and Eric Johnson, two of the Crow’s owners. The building has a story of its own: tiki history fans record it as the Leilani Hut, a tiki bar from 1937, later owned by Don May, who also started the tradition of the lighted floating Christmas trees on Alamitos Bay (mytiki.life).
A local’s note
Almost every place on this list is run by someone who lives nearby, grew up here or fell for the bay and stayed. That is what makes it feel like a small town, and why the bartender might know your neighbor. Hours and specials change with the seasons, so check each place’s website before you go. And if your day includes time on the water, save the drinks for after you are back on the dock.
Sources are linked in each section. Checked October 7, 2026. Photos are credited in each caption. Featured image: Tantalum. Photo: Tantalum (titled).
